The subject matter described herein relates generally to wind turbines and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for optimizing wind turbine operation.
Known wind turbines have a plurality of mechanical and electrical components. For example, a wind turbine generally includes a rotor that includes a rotatable hub assembly having multiple blades. The blades transform wind energy into a mechanical rotational torque that drives one or more generators via the rotor. The generators are sometimes, but not always, rotationally coupled to the rotor through a gearbox. The gearbox steps up the inherently low rotational speed of the rotor for the generator to efficiently convert the rotational mechanical energy to electrical energy, which is fed into a utility grid via at least one electrical connection. Such configurations may also include power converters that are used to convert a frequency of generated electric power to a frequency substantially similar to a utility grid frequency. Other electrical and/or mechanical components are also included in known wind turbine configurations.
Each electrical and/or mechanical component may have one or more parameters associated with the component that define one or more operational characteristics of the component. The operational parameters are often set to default values during installation or setup of the wind turbine. However, one or more irregularities may be present within one or more components such that the default values of one or more parameters may not be suitable or optimized for each wind turbine. Further, seasonal variations in environmental or atmospheric conditions in which the wind turbine operates may result in sub-optimal operation.